Iridescent
by confidentcoward
Summary: Iridescent - Displaying a spectrum of colours that shimmer and change due to interference and scattering as the observer's position changes. What she views as a normal life, he will see as torture and abuse. Worlds collide, colours change.
1. Prologue

_Ehem, hello fellas. Okay, so here is my new fan fiction! I posted it a wee while ago but I did pull it off the site when I was lacking time to write and update, so I've reposted it and there are a few changes but the majority of the writing is the same. I have the first few chapters finished, so they'll be updated regularly but after that don't expect anything amazing until maybe the summer holidays._

**Summary: **Iridescent - Displaying a spectrum of colours that shimmer and change due to interference and scattering as the observer's position changes. What she views as a normal life, he will see as torture and abuse. Worlds collide, colours change.

_I suppose I should warn you there are some dark themes in this, like rape and abuse, and Edward is an ass hat at various points, but please refrain from killing him, or the fan fiction will be slightly ruined._

_Disclaimer: I own 86 pieces of Twilight merchandise, but not the franchise. *sigh*_

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><p><em>It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone<br>And I need you now.  
>Said I wouldn't call, but I've lost all control.<br>And I need you now.  
><em>**Need You Now – Lady Antebellum**

**PROLOGUE  
>BPOV<br>**  
>So, here I was again. In the situation I'd been in for the last 17 years of my life before I found myself in a place so different to the life I was used to I was overwhelmed... In love... out of anything my mind could ever have imagined. But dreams don't last- do they? I wasn't meant to have a good life, obviously.<p>

"If you _ever_ pull a stunt like that again, you're dead meat bitch." A fist hit me full force right across my face and, I'm sure, broke my cheek bone. There'll be bruising there tomorrow and for the next however many years of my life- not many though, I can presume.

"I said, you'll be dead meat _bitch_!" He screamed at me, "Do you understand what that means dog?"

"Y-yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, master." The tears began falling from my eyes as he hit the other cheek- another bruise, another lifetime of pain. As if my body wasn't already broken enough as it was. Each tear stung as it hit the broken bones but I couldn't care less. I was sure the tears were tinted red with the blood that had previously dried on my face from the scratches he'd made sure I would inflict myself.

The fleas had got to me- that's what he told me. He told me to scratch, he told me to scratch until I cut, until I felt the pain and the blood.

"Clean yourself up you fucking waste of space." He ordered me and pointed towards the little dingy room to the side of the already, dark and haunting space. I took one step towards the room before I felt the air forced out of me.

"You don't walk dog! Dog's don't fucking walk, they fucking CRA-" but I didn't hear the rest, in fact, I was sure my senses died on the spot as my vision blurred and covered over with darkness and I fell into a familiar oblivion with only a splitting 'thwack' to fill my ears.

_Edward, help me, please..._

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><p><em>Review? :-)<br>_**Twitter: **www(dot)twitter(dot)com(slash)AllHollyLow


	2. Chapter One

_Dark themes, .  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. *Head sinks in shame.*<em>

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><p><strong><strong>_Do you feel like a man when you push her around?  
>Do you feel better now, she falls to the ground?<br>Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gonna end.  
>As your lives crumble down, a new life she has found.<br>_**Face Down – Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**

CHAPTER ONE.  
>BPOV.<p>

My ear touched the door as I listened to the conversation that was ongoing outside of the room that was, ultimately, my home.  
>Nothing but this room...<p>

"_Caius- do whatever you have to do. She's a dog- a bitch, like I care."  
>"If you really do insist sir..."<br>"Shut up and do whatever the fuck you're planning on doing."_

I moved away from the door and groaned inwardly. It seemed such a little thing to do considering I knew what was about to be forced on me but there days it seemed like a normal occurrence. Something normal that just happened to happen to me on a daily basis. Always Caius' job however, to force himself upon me.

Ar- my master was here to own me- I was his pet after all. His very own bitch and dog.

Marcus was here to beat me- to inflict the bruises and cuts onto my skin and scar me for life. Even if I did ever escape this world of pain a torture, something I'm sure wouldn't be happening without anything short of a miracle, I would be scared. I would never forget the days of abuse because Marcus had left his mark.

At least, from what I've heard, there's a world outside of the pain...

Caius was here to rape me. It was just a normal occurrence for me. I've never had much to say on the subject. For as much as I know, this could be the way everyone lived.

My presuming gets me nowhere though. I could have the best life in whatever world I lived in right now- I wouldn't know. I could be the best kept person... dog alive. As I said, I wouldn't know.  
>I've never been out of this room.<br>Ever.  
>I was born here.<p>

Apparently.

**Seventeen years ago.  
><strong>_The dark, dingy room was full of the usually joyful cry of a newborn baby facing its first happy seconds on the new planet. Looking forward to all the things a baby should- being spoilt rotten, Christmas, birthdays, meeting friends. Even looking forward to the hells that life brings- school and pain and heartbreak. They were all part of life though and all things to look forward to._

_These cries just didn't have that excitement laced upon them. _

"_Please! NO! DON'T KILL MY BABY GIRL!" A woman's cries flew around the room at a tall man pulled the baby from the arms of its mother. "Please! Don't do it! Take me instead! Anything!" Tears streamed from her eyes as she attempted to pull herself up._

"_ANYTHING!" She sobbed and she was pulled back down to the ground again by a pair of hands that were so pale, they could have been opaque. _

_The man with the baby turned round stroking the baby's head so innocently that it was creepy, disturbed, and wrong.  
>"Hush little baby girl." He whispered before clearing his throat and looking at the distraught woman who lay before him. "It's okay Renee. She'll be safe with me now. What did you want to call her?"<em>

"Isabella... Bella. Give my Bella to me!" She cried and screamed as loud as she could in hopes that maybe someone could hear her. It was a lost cause, even she knew that, but there was no point in giving up. Her daughter was right there. She would be subjected to the pain that she'd faced over the last month of being tied up in the horrible room.

_She hadn't seen the day since then._

"_MARCUS." The old man who held the baby boomed, "Get us a collar and a tag- I believe Bella shall be its name."_

"_Please! Aro! Just let me have my baby back! Please!" She drifted off a little towards the end- she'd just given birth. She didn't have the energy._

"_How dare you call me by my name you dirty, unworthy, disgusting bitch!" He yelled at the woman and pulled an instrument of sorts out of his pocket. There was a large bang through the room followed by the cries of the little baby he held in his arms._

"_Caius, bury that piece of dirt in the garden. Next to the father. What they hell they were thinking bringing a bit of shit into the world-" he held the crying bloodied baby in front of him by the hand and grimaced, "I have no idea." He took his hand and hit the baby around the head, only to increase the crying that came from it._

"_SHUT THE FUCK UP."_

**x x x x**

I'd never been told anything about my parents, anything beyond insults and names was instant punishment with maybe the insults and names forced right back onto me. I asked, of course I did, it was never successful though. I always found myself in darkness within seconds of asking- always beaten to a point where I forgot what I'd even asked to deserve such a punishment.

A familiar position- everything around me was familiar these days. There was nothing new or exciting to look forward to. My life was just subject to the fear and pain that I was inflicted from the three men of the household.

Was it a house?

Perhaps something bigger...

A mansion?

Maybe this room was the only thing and they came in from the outside.

I wouldn't be surprised, I'd never seen the outside. The light from there was blinding after days upon days of living in nothing but the dark that I had to hide my eyes from the light that seeped in upon visits from my owners.

My owners... They controlled me. They made sure I never knew anything but this dark room. They had a woman come in when I was younger- A Heidi. She'd taught me the basics of English, just enough to be able to communicate. Or that's what she told my owner's anyway.

She saw the state I'd be forced into and, surprisingly, felt bad for me. She was the connection between me and the real world. She taught me enough English so that, if I ever were to escape from here that I would be able to set some simple qualifications and maybe even a job. She'd sneaked me in books and clothes, scraps of food she could get hold of... everything that made my days just that little bit easier to handle.

The day she planned on helping me escape though... she never turned up. I hadn't seen anyone else in my life apart from Aro, Marcus and Caius since that day. I was sure that, now and then, I could hear an unfamiliar voice from outside the room. I'd never see anyone though, I often hoped I would. That there would be people out there who would help me like Heidi had.

I doubted it though. Perhaps Heidi had just been bought up in an alternate kind of universe and the rest of us lived in a world full of masters and pain. No hope for any of the dogs.

The door cracked open and I backed into the corner with my hands over my eyes as I suddenly felt the familiar emotion of fear flood through my body, confirming what Caius' plans were for the afternoon.. I couldn't help but react as the tall, lanky blonde stepped into the room. His greasy long hair was scooped at the bottom of his neck in a ponytail and he walked towards me, shutting the door behind him.

It was such an ordinary movement... walking into a room.

So ordinary I wanted to run.

"No escaping for you." He chucked his head back and laughed, "Never." He added on the end. A usual line to fall off of his blood red lips- a line that haunted my days and my dreams... nightmares. I let out a small whimper as I hit the wall with my back- already covered in the bruises that had been inflicted upon me within the last week.

"Look at poor little Bella, oh doesn't she look so fragile and weak." He cooed and smiled menacingly. So sick and sadistic. "Come here Bella!" He tapped his knees as he bent down to my height, as if he were calling a dog over.

Well, he was wasn't he?

I had no choice in the matter- I resisted... I was beat up. I went towards him, I was forced upon. The second was easier. I succumbed to the coo's of the sadistic man in front of me and crawled towards him knowing that if I got to my feet both of the options would happen, one after another.

"Well, isn't that a good doggy!" He put his hand on my head and rubbed it hard as he ruffled up my already messy hair before pushing my head backwards. I landed with a loud thud on my back onto the cold, hard wooden flooring.

I held in my scream of pain as his hands moved from my head and down my body. Over every nonexistent curve and every existent cut and bruise that had been inflicted on me.

"Oh Bella, Bella, Bella. You're a mess." He tutted as he began to undress himself. I felt my breath speeding up at the thought of what was about to happen. I might have been used to it- but it never got any better. "Oh Bella," He smiled seductively, "Are you excited for me? You are aren't you?" His smile was full of amusement... and inevitable pain. "Don't worry- we'll be there soon enough."

He began to laugh sadistically at me. He tugged at my ripped up sweat pants and already destroyed button up shirt as he grabbed various places over my body. "Ready?" He lifted his eyebrows as he adjusted his positioning. "Of course you're ready." He muttered and laughed.

I closed my eyes and thought of anything, anything above what was happening to me.

**x x x x**

The pain that came afterwards was almost unbearable- the whimpers escaped my lips freely and the tears rolled out from my eyes without a second thought as the door behind me shut with a _slam_ and an evil laugh.

You'd think, by now, I'd be used to the pain.

I was sore all over- the constant abuse I received only ached more after Caius' visits to my confinement. Every cut and every bruise, every broken bone or damaged limb throbbed around me with my pulse. _Thump, thump, thump._

You'd think, by now, the raping wouldn't affect me.

I reached up and wiped the tears as I pulled my ruined clothes on and tucked myself in the corner in hopes that I'd been subjected to all I had needed to be for the day. Today's experience had only haunted me more than necessary.

"_Call my name as loud as you can you dirty hoe." _

His shout ran through my head like a broken cassette. A noise so terrible I don't think I could ever escape it. It went round over, and over, and over. Round, and round, and round. Just another haunted memory, a haunted sound. A memory I could only hope would be knocked out of me in my next beating- whenever that time would roll around.

_I wouldn't doubt that'd be far away._

After years of the same treatment, I knew it was only safe to check any injuries. It was quiet in the room and, by the sounds of it, there were no people outside. An ample chance to check myself over and treat myself with... whatever scraps of fabric I could find around my room. No first aid kit...

The room was empty apart from the tattered mattress in the corner. The bowl and a small pile of clothes- something I'd come to treasure. The only normal thing in my life, no matter how messed up the clothes were. Tattered or torn, they were still clothes.

I sighed as I averted my gaze from the almost empty room and began to examine myself. A gash I'd managed to get on my arm last week had re opened and was beginning to bleed. _Caius really needed to leave my arms alone. _I reached over to a strip of material that had been ripped off one of my old tops and tied it round the top of my arm as I cleaned the wound up with another scrap of material.

There was nothing I could really do with it apart from keep pressure on it until I started bleeding, I hadn't seen a proper first aid kit since Heidi's days of 'teaching' me.

**Eleven years ago  
><strong>_"Oh Bells, who gave you that?" Heidi's face was a mask of horror as she examined the knife gash along the small brunette's stomach. A single line that had been there for almost a day- but small amounts of blood kept oozing from the injury._

"_Aro was mad. I didn't cry when Marcus hit me." The small girl hung her head in shame, like her resistance to pain was something to be ashamed of. Like she should be screaming bloody murder whenever someone touched her for that particular person's pleasure. Heidi huffed and pulled out the small first aid kit from her coat pocket._

"_I wish I could help you more kiddo. I'd hate to know what'd happen If I tried to tell the police about this. They wouldn't believe me though, I'm sure of it." She drifted off._

"_Why?"_

"_Aro's big in the world outside these walls." She said as she tended to a small Bella who was sprawled out of the floor as Heidi cleaned the gash with an anti septic wipe before putting a bandage around her waist. "He can get whatever he likes; everyone respects him and the other men. They're famous- the owners of the great Volturi estates all over the world."_

_Bella sighed, the _real _world, outside the four walls.  
>"Tell me about the world again?" She asked. It made everything much better and easier to bear as Heidi cleaned and wrapped the multiple injuries Bella had accumulated in the twenty four hours since she last saw Heidi.<em>

"_It's big." She laughed, "There's so much out there. Maybe you'll see one day. There's the sky, it's huge! In the day its bright blue with a big round ball in it called the sun. It's so bright and it makes everything so warm! Apart from when the sky's all grey and cloudy though, sometimes water falls from the sky. That's rain." She told Bella as she listened intently, interested about the strange goings on._

"_What about when it's not day?"_

"_That's when the sky goes dark and lights up with little gems and diamonds; making the wonder we call stars. Oh, and the moon of course! This big round dish that shines, but in a subtle way. The opposite to the sun."_

"_I'd like to see the stars, they sound so pretty." Bella mused, flinching slightly as Heidi bandaged up a horrible, huge yellowing bruise on her arm in the shape of Marcus' fist. "That's the hit mark." Bella head hung down again._

"_Oh Bella." Heidi leaned over and hugged her softly. "You're a tough girl. I'll keep coming every day until we find a way to get you out of here, yeah?" She smiled. Bella nodded with a smile, she very much liked that idea. Being able to leave the confines and see the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars. She presumed people took these for granted but, she was sure, they'd be the greatest thing the world could offer. _

"_I'd like that." She confirmed._

"_I knew you would."_

**x x x x **

I missed Heidi being around. I had someone to talk to properly, have a real conversation with... someone to discuss the real world with.

Most of all, someone who _cared._

Heidi taught me everything I needed to know.

If I could never talk again, I wouldn't care. If I could never leave this room for my whole life, I wouldn't care if I just had someone who _cared _for me. Heidi had told me it was love.

I mused the word often... love. An emotion, a strong one at that. A foreign emotion, one I doubt I'd ever feel it properly. It'd be lovely to feel, just for a second in my life. Just to feel something new besides the exhaustion and pain of daily life.

"_Love is like... your life being full at last. That someone else to fill you . It's not until you feel it that you realise that you've been living life as a glass half empty... or only half fell, whatever way you want to put it. When love hits you though you're suddenly so full, you could burst. You don't, but you could. There's nothing in the world that can compare to it... at all."_

Heidi had told me that once. She said she'd found someone that made her feel like that. Demetri she said his name was. She'd met him once or twice, but they were already feeling things beyond a 'normal friendship' she'd called it. I'd laugh when she said that.

I didn't even know what a normal friendship was like. The carefree but quiet laughter never the less was always full of wonder around Heidi when she spoke. _I wonder if that's the only laughter that escapes lips... is there any other type?_

_I'd like to be able to laugh... one day._

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><p><em><em>_What makes you laugh? I know sexual innuendo's make me giggle...  
>Review! :-)<em>

**Twitter: **www(dot)twitter(dot)com(slash)AllHollyLow


	3. Chapter Two

**I'm sure you've got the gist of these authors notes by now, so I guess we'll go straight into the chapter on this one...**

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><p><em>I wanna run away, never say goodbye<br>I wanna know the truth instead of wondering why  
>I wanna know the answers, no more lies<br>I wanna shut the door, and open up my mind  
><em>**Runaway – Linkin Park**

**CHAPTER TWO.  
>BPOV.<strong>

Time passed, I'm not sure just how much, but it did... and in silence. There were no more knocks on my door or abuse thrown at me. I was thankful for that, at least.

I'd spent this time fixing up whatever injuries I found on myself as much as I could, a gash here, a graze there, a burn here, a fractured bone there... Some of them I could only hope would fix themselves. Without someone who can actually fix them up there's nothing I could do for the broken bones but hope to use them as little as possible and look past the pain.

Luckily, it seemed only a finger was the new addition to my list of broken bones. I was sure I could live past that. I bandaged it up with a scrap from the bottom of an old shirt and hope that maybe it would set right.

Of course, hope was the only think I could really do in this case.

There was only one thing about the silence that unnerved me, if I wasn't to be beaten now, it was inevitable that I was going to be beaten beyond recognition later or tomorrow, whenever the time was right for them. It had happened before, they used their mind tricks to tease my brain into believing that maybe, just maybe, I would be let off the hook for a while.

**1 year and 2 months ago  
><strong>_The silence in the small box room that Bella had been kept in was beyond the normal silence that filled it. It was almost comforting, it'd been two days since any of the men had come to beat or rape Bella. The only time they'd even approached her 'box' was to pass a bowl of rotten dog food under the door for her to eat._

_It was nice to have two days off- perhaps they'd got in trouble for doing what they do. At least, that's what Bella hoped. Maybe the beatings would be less frequent and maybe in time she'd get more food than the measly bowl a day she received. _

_Sometimes she didn't even get that._

_She'd noticed how her injuries were visibly getting better when they weren't being torn apart viciously when they were re-inflicted daily or treated with so much brutal force that they had no choice other than to break apart and bleed their selves. _

_The pink lines that formed where the gashes had previously been were things that she hadn't seen since her days with Heidi- so Bella was sure now that they were healing for the better- That they were supposed to do that._

_She'd even learnt how to smile in this time and appreciate the fact that she was still alive. She might now have been able to leave the room or eat anything decent like the delicacies that Heidi had told her about, or roam the free lands but she was alive. She had air to breathe and scraps to eat and she was finally healing from the wounds that had constantly been inflicted on her small, frail body. _

_A small smile began to form on the little brunette's mouth, a sign of vague happiness. She was sure she'd never find herself happier than this for the rest of her existence, but she didn't mind, this was enough for her. _

_She was content... until the banging started again. Screams erupted from outside the door of her little room and she found herself pulling her usual routine- crawling back into the corner of the room in hopes that maybe she'd blend in with the black walls and they'd leave her alone. It always failed, but every shot was worth its try. She had nothing to lose._

"_Oh,, Isabellllllaaaaa." She sickly voice of Marcus cooed through the room as the large door on the wall swung open with a loud _bang_ against the wall. It was obvious he had been drinking, the smell reached Bella's small shaking form in a second. The beatings were always at their worst after Marcus had been drinking, the alcohol didn't only lace his breath, but laced his anger in making it more visible._

"_P-Please don't hurt me." Bella stuttered quietly, "I'll do anything, I swear." She choked. _

"_Anything?" He laughed and chucked his head back, "SHUT UP YOU DIRTY SLUT." His laugher echoed throughout the room and Bella didn't think twice about obeying. "That's better, isn't it?" He smiled sadistically as he slammed the door behind him and approached her. He bent down to her height and looked her in the eyes.  
>"You thought we weren't going to come back and hurt you again didn't you? You silly girl." He chucked under his breath making Bella choke with the smells that rolled off his breath and onto her face.<em>

"_I SAID, SHUT THE HELL UP." he wacked Bella's face with all the strength he could master and picked her up by the collar of her top and threw her against the wall with a sickening '_crunch' _and a wail of pain that unconsciously erupted from her mouth. The tall, dark haired man approached the little girl as he pulled something out of his pocket- a small knife._

_He grabbed her and pushed her onto her front as he rolled up her top, his breath hitting her back and sending violent, unpleasant shivers of fear up her spine._

_He cut into Bella's back deep as Bella's screams pierced through his ears. He could only laugh at them, "You weak little girl. If you EVER say this to me again, the cut will get deeper, and deeper, and deeper..." He drifted off and he cut through her ivory skin one more time and left her to bleed out of the cuts that were left on her back in the shape of the word 'NO.'_

**x x x x**

My fingers unconsciously felt over my back at the scars of the word that'd been cut into my back. It had been cut open almost every week by Marcus for almost half a year after Marcus first cut it into me. The pain was always unbearable but after weeks of the same treatment it became something of a second nature to just shut my mouth, never say no and never let on about the amount of pain that streamed through my body every time he decided to cut it open.

He hadn't cut it in a while but I doubted it would be that was for too long, if they were approaching the same tactics as that time over a year ago, then I was in for a lot of pain when they finally bring their selves to their senses to beat me again.

They were probably drunk out of their minds, so much they'd even forgotten about their 'pet' locked away upstairs. I wasn't even sure if I should be expecting any form of food in the next couple of days. I knew I needed some food, I felt weaker than usual after some of the recent treatment that I'd been receiving, but I'd been through worse. I could survive without food for a little bit.

It wouldn't be pleasant at all though. _Just another thing to get used to._

Hours began to pass, and turned into night which with only a blink of an eye turned into day again. I'd still not received any food and the house was full of deadly silence. Not a footstep or a breath coming from anyone but myself.

_Escape whilst you can! _A little voice in my head told me, and I had to laugh out loud. Not a happy laugh, of a humour laugh, but an empty laugh showing just how mad being locked in this place had made me. Escape? How was I going to do that?

Something deep inside me told me it was possible, my heart told me I could do it, but my mind was the rational one. _Escaping is a stupid idea. It'd never work. You don't even know what's actually out there!_

It was the absolute truth, what would I do in the real world? What if there was nowhere to go out of here? What if there was some kind of security to stop me from escaping? What if the whole world wasn't as big as Heidi said and I found myself having nowhere to hide? The beating would be the end of me for sure. There was obviously a reason why I'd never been allowed to see any place beyond these four walls.

_Yeah, but maybe it is big out there and you could start fresh!_

It's a point, but how would I even get out there?

_Anyway of course! Bang down the door, cause some kind of trouble to get them to come up and open the door for you! Wait for them to come up and break out before they have a chance to pull any kind of stunt with you..._

They all seemed like plans that sounded too easy to think about, but pulling them off would surely be harder than the words.

As if the thought of my escape echoed around the house, my door suddenly opened with force and hit the black wall behind it. I didn't even move back to get away from a beating I might possibly get- it would be inevitable either way.

The beating never came when Aro stepped inside my room looking drunker than ever before. He laughed at me before throwing me some kind of twig.

"Go fetch!" He laughed sadistically before tripping over his own feet and onto the ground. My eyes widened at the sight before me. _Almost as if someone wanted to help me on my plans to escape._

The door was wide open before me. I tapped Aro cautiously on the shoulder but I got no response- he was out cold. I laughed- I actually laughed as I brought myself slowly to my feet and looked out of the door into a long red, carpeted corridor. I was momentarily stunned; it looked so strange, so bright. My eyes were stinging at how bright it was, but I couldn't bring myself to look away.

It was enchanting.

I saw no signs of the other two men so, without a second thought I walked out of the room and smelt the air around me. It was horrible and tinted with alcohol, but fresher than I had ever breathed before.

My feet moved as silently as they possibly could along the corridor until I reached stairs leading down to a lower floor. I followed them down, a step at a time, hoping to never alert anyone in the house to my escape from my room. I was tempted to stand and stare at the various artworks that hung on the walls but I knew, if my heart were right in that I could escape, my mind shouldn't over rule it by interesting me in the works all around the house.

It suddenly came to me with a gasp; _every shot was worth its try... _All my time thinking the same motto, yet I couldn't apply it to simply running out of the door and leaving every bad memory behind me.

I found myself at the bottom of the stairs and at another large corridor. I had no idea what way I was supposed to be running so I ran into the first room that I saw. It seemed to be the main room of the house. I froze in my tracks when I saw the familiar figure before me, Caius.

My breath hitched as I expected to be killed on the spot but I didn't notice until then that he was unconscious on the chair, not awake and angry. Marcus seemed to be almost mirroring his posture in the chair opposite, both holding a bottle of beer in their hands.

_The drink had really got to them._

I backed silently out of the room and towards the big doors that were at the bottom of the corridor. _Could be these be the doors? The doors that could grant my escape from the house that had forever been my jail?_

I didn't waste a second thought as I head for them and hit them open.

I burst out of the large, wooden doors that separated me from the strange old room and the unfamiliar strange place- the outside.

The doors slammed behind me as I stood, staring in awe. Above me was the almighty sky, an impossible endless horizon of blue with patches of white reminding me of the fluffy sheep Heidi had told me about, at least, what I thought the sheep would look like anyway.

I took a deep breath of the new air around me, it was clean and for the first time in seventeen years I truly believed I knew what 'alive' meant.

I wanted to stop and admire every little blade of grass and every little flower that coated the ground around me- they were all so beautiful and perfect, new and delicate- but I had to run away from the hell I'd been trapped in for my entire life and the three men that made it unbearable on a daily basis.

I'd never felt such relief in the world before as I had as I was running thought the green grass and the colourful varieties of flowers and a mass of unfamiliar wild things. Plants? Foods? Who knew?

So what if I had no shoes to run with?  
>So what if I had nowhere to go?<br>I was outside! For the first time ever, I wasn't in the small room that now seemed like nothing compared to the endless world that stretched before me.

I found myself encountering things up to five times my height- a brown body with an array of green perched above it that hung down like hair. They had to be trees hadn't they? I sighed and marvelled the beauty momentarily before I began to run again.

All traces of pain had disappeared as all new things in this world appeared and filled it's place but I never stopped running for more than a couple of seconds, there was so much to see. _Was there even an end to the world?_

I had no idea how long I'd been running and marvelling at the beauty and new horizons before me but the bright blue sky had began to darken around me and unfamiliar sparkles began to appear above me.

_Stars!_

And then there was the large dish floating in the sky peacefully.

_The moon._

I sighed with content at the sight I'd always wanted to see- I'd finally seen a real night time. I wanted to stay and watch it forever, the way the stars sparkle and the moon shines and casts shadows on the land but I knew that I should stop and rest; I didn't know how many days I would spend like this. Running and stopping, but if I were to get anywhere I knew I'd have to take plenty of rest.

I knew I'd also need food and drink to stay alive, but I'd lived long enough without them before. It should be easy for a few days, at least.

The dark surroundings and trees were strangely comforting as I pulled myself into a ball against the nearest tree. As much as I wished for slumber and rest my mind wouldn't stop whizzing and thinking about the wonders that I'd discovered in a matter of what could have only been hours.

There was a whole world to discover out there! Placers I'd never have even dreamt about seeing with my own eyes. I could build myself a life how Heidi had taught me. I could be a whole new person!

Maybe I'd be able to see the stars up close... maybe even the moon! _Was there a job like that? _I would be able to meet real people... maybe nice people who'd look after me. I could start school, the place Heidi had told me about. I could be educated and earn some money. There were so many possibilities; the outcomes of my life could be infinite.

It was somewhere between the constant flowing ideas that my mind had created from the simple ideas of a life and my eyes taking in the beauty of the real world around me and above me that I found myself falling into the most peaceful and relaxed sleep I'd ever encountered.

**x x x x**

_Chirp, chirp, chirp..._

Unfamiliar noises hit my ears and cause my eyes to suddenly open. I'd expected to awaken to one of my masters leaning over my shoulder ready for a day of abuse and pain in the dark room that I'd still been confined in only yesterday. It was, after all, a common alarm clock for me. The noises and the beatings that is...

**2 weeks ago  
><strong>_"Woof! Woof!" Laughing erupted around the small black room. Three men's laughed, deep and joyful. Full of mock, hatred and impending, inevitable pain._

"_Bella..." The deep voice of Marcus boomed in my ear followed by more ravenous laugher. His leg reached out and kicked the small package that lay sprawled on the floor in front of him- the delicate package of Isabella._

The thud and crack of the brittle, weak bones caused the girl to jerk back into consciousness with a wail of pain on her behalf only to amuse the three men that stood around her violently.

_Their heads flung back with laughter as they roared at the pain the small girl couldn't handle to the point that the tears she had to desperately tried to keep back fell freely down her porcelain cheeks without a break in the sobs that accompanied them._

"_Oh Bella, Bella." Marcus cooed, "I'm sorry. You'll live!" He smirked and boomed and roared with more laughter in the delicate girls face causing her hair to move slightly back with the force and her nose to pick out the now, all too familiar, strong stench of alcohol- likely beer._

_All three of the tall, intimidating long haired men's breaths were laced with the various alcoholic beverages making them more rowdy than usual._

_Their laughter and body movement fell into slow motion as Marcus picked the girl up from her ear. He gripped he t-shirt and hit her violently around the face whilst creating a long gash down her face with the ring on his finger. Blood began to roll down her face and began to mingle with the already fallen tears._

"_Stop crying you pathetic excuse for a fucking dog, YOU MESS!" Aro shouted at the small girl as her frame was thrown into the wall behind her and with a loud thud, she hit the floor below her. This time without the tears and wails as she was knocked clean out by the force of the throw._

_The taunting began again- to wake her from the forced slumber for what could have easily been the tenth or eleventh time that day._

**x x x x**

The rude awakenings never did get any better- they were the worse things you could get but just like everything in my old damaged life, you had to get used to it or nothing would ever get any better.

I took the deepest sigh I could master and brought myself to my feet. I'd never felt so awake. The new world around me was so vast, so new! _So dangerous._ A small part of me couldn't help by think  
><em>Does Aro know that I've gone yet?<br>Are they looking for me?  
><em>I decided not to dwell on what they might be doing and set off with hopes to never have to return to any type of life like the one I'd so narrowly escaped.

_Any type of life had to be better than that, hadn't it?_

* * *

><p><em>One of the first things I remember learning in middle school was similes and metaphors and the example we always used was 'the moon was a dish in the sky.' What do you remember learning?<br>Review? :-)_

**Twitter: **www(dot)twitter(dot)com(slash)AllHollyLow


	4. Chapter Three

_I bet you're thinking... Where's Edward? Seriously?  
>Okay, you might not be thinking that, but don't worry, he'll be around soon. Like, I don't know... maybe this chapter...<em>

_I don't own Twilight. *Runs into the sunset crying.*_

* * *

><p><em>Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me.<br>Lying on the floor. Surrounded, surrounded.  
>Why'd ya have to wait? Where were you, where were you?<br>Just a little late. You found me. You found me.  
><em>**You Found Me – The Fray**

**CHAPTER THREE.**_**  
><strong>_**BPOV.**

I couldn't have been awake for long, I was almost certain of it. The sun that had been low in the sky when I'd first opened my eyes to the new world around me had only just reached its peak. I didn't know much about time, but it could only have been a couple of hours at most.

I was already drained of energy.

I'd stopped several times along the way, sure that among all the tree's the chance of being found by Aro, Caius, Marcus, or anyone else for that matter, would be slim. Among the canopies of green, and beds of brown bark I was pretty sure that if anyone was going to find me they'd have to have super hearing to hear my shallow breaths, and super sight to see me in the constant maze of the woods.

As much as a good thing this first came across as, I didn't fail to notice how bad this really was. _Would I find anyone to help? Surely not. Would anyone find me to help? Again, surely not._

My thoughts were nothing but true, if I didn't come across anyone, wouldn't I be alone for the rest of my time? I would I even live to see another person? It was possible I wouldn't. I hadn't eaten in some time and I felt the constant edge between me and consciousness slipping and bringing itself back up again. I needed proper rest and something to eat, but I wouldn't let myself stop fighting to find someone, something, anything at all that would help me.

My muscles were hurting again, all over, I could feel my cuts and bruises stinging and throbbing painfully as they tried to repair their selves, only to be rejected when I took a step or knocked my arm on a tree as I began to lose my balance, time after time, after time.

I stopped and took a deep breath, bringing as much oxygen into my lungs as I possibly could before carrying on in my 'quest' as such. Bringing myself back up to my full height I scanned my surroundings- nothing new, just the trees, as usual. With a sigh I moved forwards, hoping that maybe there would be some source of water or food ahead.

I remember Heidi telling me about the rivers and lakes that sometimes surrounded the area where she lived, which, I guessed couldn't have been too far from where I'd been kept all these years. I could only hope this I guess, because I could feel that I needed something to drink soon, it was starting to become more and more painful to stay upright with every step that I took.

I stopped and stilled after what felt like hours more of walking. I could feel my body aching, calling for water, but nothing was coming to me whatsoever. I sat down on the ground and took time to give my body some oxygen.

A couple of gashes on my arm had been re opened, as had one on my leg. It was something that was bearable, but as my muscles relaxed a little as I tried to recuperate the stinging sensation coming from them became more and more uncomfortable, eventually, to the point of tears.

Tears had never been something in the past I could have gotten away with. They would cause the constant jeers of my masters- the men- in the house to go from taunting to verbal abuse at what a coward I was, how they'd need to toughen me up...

**10 years ago**_  
>The tears that ran down Bella's cheeks were fast and furious and only cause more as the saltiness of them hit the cuts and bruises on her cheeks, causing her to whimper.<em>

"_Shut up you silly little bitch." Aro's head turned to face Bella, "Why are you even crying? You're not a baby anymore!" He laughed with the venom practically being spit from his lips as his sadistic laughter echoed around the small room._

_Despite Bella's attempts to put an end to the tears, they seemed to carry on running without giving a thought for what kind of punishment might be put to them._

"_I'm so sorry we have to do this to you Isabella." Aro's head fell a little to the side, as if he were a young child taking in someone he'd never seen before. "But, you know what happens to children who can't hold their tears back, don't you." It wasn't a question, Bella knew very well. _

"_Caius!" He called, his loud voice booming._

_Bella cowered back into the corner of the room- she'd already made herself a coward yet again in Aro's eyes, she may as well keep it up now as the blond haired debaucher entered the room stealthily and laughed at the scared girl in the corner._

"_Come on Isabella," His sickly sweet voice affronted as Bella shielded her face in her hands, only to let herself hear the careful yet drunken footsteps approaching her and the loud band of the door as it slammed behind Aro as he left Caius to 'toughen Bella up'._

**x x x x**

Nothing had ever made sense in my life though. Sometimes crying brought them pleasure, sometimes it was a sign of weakness. I'd never know which.

With a large, quiet sob at the memory of the life I once had I carried on in my journey, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of life other than the small animals that skittered here and there as I approached them. I was slowing with every step though, with every blink of my eyes my vision became more tunnelled, my body felt heavier and my muscles tensed up.

Crack  
>I turned towards the source of the sound behind me, "W-Who's there?" I tried my very best to call out. Despite trying so hard to think that it could finally be help, my mind couldn't waver from the fact that maybe someone was after me...<p>

I slowly started backing away from the approaching sounds of cracking, my breathing erratic and laboured as I tried my very best to avoid anything that'd make an sort of sound to alert anyone of my presence, despite my instincts telling me to shout for help.

"Who's there?" Someone called out and, already, I could tell from the curiosity of the voice that it was most definitely not someone that was after me. At least, not to take me back to that place.

Excitement suddenly filled my body as I held onto the nearest tree in time to just save myself from falling onto my back with surprise and excitement from the steady voice I could hear from only meters away. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but my throat was so dry from my lack of water that nothing beyond a hoarse breath.

"H-Heellpp," I finally stuttered out in a voice barely louder than a whisper as my legs collapsed beneath me as my grip on the tree loosened and I felt my body falling to the floor. My eyes closed as the footsteps quickened and approached me before I fell into a peaceful, dark nothing.

* * *

><p><em>This selfish blood runs through my veins,<br>I gave up everything for fame.  
>I am the lie that you adore,<br>I feed the rich and fuck the poor._**  
>Don't Stop - Innerpartysystem<strong>

**EPOV.**

"Please Edward! Just for 10 minutes." My worrisome 'mother' spoke almost mutely through my large wooden door.

"Esme, please just leave me alone!" I shouted. Even though Esme had done nothing wrong, I just wanted to be alone, seul, allein, da solo, whatever goddamn language you speak. I never like the serenity being interrupted by needless, worried, goddamn whining.

"Edward, please. I'm your mother!" I could hear that she was crying- when I called her by her name it was obvious that I wasn't in the mood for talking to her. Unfortunately, even after 17 years of this she hadn't quite got the message. _Idiot. _Without knowing, my eyes rolled and the word 'pathetic' escaped from my lips in a whisper.

"I heard that Edward!" She sighed, annoyed, from behind me door and heard her footsteps disappear from the door and down the stairs. Probably to get father dearest to use his fucking compassion to get me out of my god damn room. Likely.

I love my mother but sometimes I wish she wasn't so damn sensitive! I mean, I'm seventeen! It's my job to sit in my room, completely isolated, and listen to music. It's normal! At least, that's what I told the many school psychiatrists that Esme has made me see. All of which – might I add – quit soon after being faced with me. I refuse to go anymore, much to the distaste of my parents.

I picked up my iPod and shoved the earphones deep into my ears. _Time to block out the outside world_. I sunk further back into the sofa that was placed against the wall of my bedroom as the relaxing tones of Debussy flooded my ears and my brain as the steady notes of the piano in Claire De Lune wiped away any bad thoughts that had been flooding my mind.

Such a thing had become a common occurrence within our family of abnormalities. If it weren't for the fact we were all paler that the average family, there'd be nothing that could connect us all together as family.

My dark, curly haired brother who would easily be compared to a bear other than an average guy and my small, pixie style sister who you would expect to see flying through the tree's of an enchanted wood and not the designer shops that she practically lives in.

I, on the other hand, am the epitome of bland, brown hair, tall, slim. I don't stand out at all. Maybe that's for the best, even if it didn't stop the endless girls throwing themselves at me and my 'amazing looks.'

I let out a small chuckle from under my breath, yes, I had the girls under my wings. Especially Tanya, she spent a lot of time under my _wing, _and that wing, unlike the one most girls have attempted to find themselves under; I have no complaints to when it comes to the pathetically fake girls of Forks, Washington.

The greenest fucking town just about... say... I don't know, fucking ever?

"Edward?" Another voice burst through the happy music that came from the iPod headphones. I pulled them out and, along with the nano that they were attached to, threw them to the other side of the room.

I suppose I should give those things more credit sometimes, the abuse that poor iPod had endured whilst in my hands, I should be arrested. But I'm not going to be, so that's sorted.

"Yes, father dearest?" The sarcasm flooded my voice like a damn tsunami, but I didn't give a shit. He knew I didn't respect him like I should- him being the 'movie star gorgeous' world famous surgeon that he is. I practically heard his long, drawn out sigh that followed the sharp intake of breath that he took.

"Edward, your mother's in hysterics. Come out here for a minute and just apologize to her, at least?"

"What for?" Anger began to drip from my voice and I knew at this point Carlisle would be ready to turn and get a goddamn sedative from his 'little black bag' of all things medical to stop me from getting up and hitting him.

It wouldn't be the first time.

"She thinks' she's done something wrong Edward because you just upped and left through the middle of dinner not even Emmett's pathetic jokes can cheer her up." Of course, Emmett being the perfect oldest son- good grades, baseball team captain, a long lasting relationship and a happy go lucky soul, all in one.

I bet Dr and Mrs Cullen have the ideal son.

"I wasn't hungry," I shouted through the door, "Now, if you care to, please _fucking_ leave me alone?" I all but growled the last few words as he sighed with resignation.

"Just say sorry to your mother at some point, son. Oh, and sort that language out of yours." And with that, I heard his footsteps disappear just as Esme's did down the staircase and back to the happy land of their family, minus the depressive brooding one... _Yay, me._

I don't know how long after that I spent doing nothing better than tapping my foot aimlessly as I retrieved my iPod once again and placed the comforting buds of the headphones into my ears and felt myself float back to my calm place until I finally became aware that it was becoming dark.

I smiled, it was finally reaching twilight. I stood from my bed and dropped the iPod onto the floor with another silent apology to it as I left the room.

I passed Esme and Carlisle, they tried to say something to me, but I had no idea what they did say. Emmett gave me some kinda dirty look, probably trying to warn me not to mess with his parents again- like I gave a shit what he thought, he looked prepared to leave the goddamn house to go and play some sick game with his girlfriend anyway. But then there was my little sister Alice, little miss fucking pixie.

She was the only one in the family I could talk to without wanting to hit. A lot. And hard.

She skipped up to my side, her head only just reaching the top of my shoulder. _As I said, little miss fucking pixie._

She knew I was heading out into the little wooded area behind the house, most nights she followed me there and kept me company, even when I was in my solitary silence mood she'd follow and sit just a bit away from me. I couldn't say no to her, she had the most adorable little pout when people said no, plus, she could always tell when we had to get back in to avoid the wrath of the angry parents.

We headed through the back yard without a single word between us until we reached the middle of the woodland area that sat at the back of our house just like all the other houses in Forks. Far too many tree's, far too much green.

I took my seat on the old tree stub, and she done the same to the one that was only two metres or so ahead of me.

I sighed, this meant she actually wanted to talk.

"Edward-" She started, her voice tinkling around the little space.

"No, Alice, leave it please. I don't want to talk tonight." And with that I turned my back, knowing it'd make no difference anyway but every night was worth a try anyway.

"Please Edward," As I guessed, she wasn't going to stop just because she couldn't see my face, "Mom and Dad are worried about you. They think you're gonna start on the drugs again and start drinking and going back down that road. They already think you're fucking half the girls in the town again." She sighed and I chuckled darkly as I turned round to face the small pouting face of my sister.

She bowed her head down, her black spikes that framed her face falling down with her- that shit she pulled actually made me feel bad sometimes, but I wasn't about to show it.

"Hey, they finally got something right." I chuckled again.

"Edward!" She chided and she stood up and walked over to me and with her hand, hit my arm hard. She might have been only five foot and as small as a goddamn anorexic twig but she sure had some strength behind that slap.

"Ow, Alice. Been working out again have we?" That comment received another slap and a death glare from her as she stormed back over to her stump, breaking a whole bunch of sticks on her way.

Suddenly she stopped and turned to me,  
>"Did you hear that?"<p>

"Hear what darling sister?" I asked.

"Sounded like footsteps coming from deeper in the woods..." She drifted off as she turned and called out into the darkness, "Who's there?"

I stood up and joined her at the side, she was right, there was definitely something inside the woods and it wasn't the usual deer that stalked around the tree's.

There was a stutter of quiet words from not far, "H-Heellpp," the little voice carried over to us barely. I looked at Alice and took no second thoughts on going to find the source of whoever was calling to us.

_I may be a dick sometimes, _I thought, _but I'm not going to let someone get hurt because of it._

I stepped forward, followed by Alice, until I saw a small figure on the floor, collapsed by a large tree. I turned to Alice quickly,

"Go get dad," I said to her urgently, as I leaned down to the small bundle on the floor. In front of me I saw the most beautiful yet most fucking broken thing that I'd ever seen in my life.

"It'll be okay..." I whispered, not even thinking about what I was actually saying.

* * *

><p><em>Twatty Edward has a soft side. Who'd guess?<br>So, I was working on one of the chapters, and my mum kept nagging me to do things for her. I told her to go away, and she gets into a grump. Parents, eh? Do you ever get fed up of them sometimes?  
>Review? :-)<em>

**Twitter: **www(dot)twitter(dot)com(slash)AllHollyLow


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